ESCORT / spencer reid.

twenty three

She looked exhausted. Underneath the concealer beneath her eyes, Spencer saw the hints of green and purple peeking through. He squinted when he noticed the red-rims around her eyes, the whites of them clearly bloodshot and red. Spencer's smile immediately fell, his heart falling. Was she crying?

"The case ended okay..." Spencer muttered, his voice trailing off. "Ivy, are you—"

"I'm gonna head for the shower." She said quickly, giving him a fake smile that Spencer easily caught on to. He pursed his lips together at her raw and vulnerable features that weren't sassily snapping at him for once. Her spunk and confidence wasn't there like he remembered.

"Wouldn't want you to smell like an old man." Ivory said bitterly, abruptly turning away. Spencer's eyebrows dipped, noticing the hatred in her voice. She wasn't okay.

Ivory let the water run down her back, letting out a soft sigh. She rubbed her eyes, feeling light headed from crying so hard. The woman felt her legs wobble the tiniest bit, easing herself down into the bathtub as the water poured onto the top of her head.

Who knew how long she had stayed like this before Spencer knocked softly on the bathroom door. Ivory guessed probably a while.

"Ivory, are you okay?" He asked from the other side.

Those three words coming from Spencer Reid was all she really needed to break. Ivory responded with something along the lines of "no—I don't know—" But they were all muffled by the frenzy of her crying, sobbing, and gasping on lack of air. Ivory dug her fingernails into her calves to distract herself from the mental the pain, still curled up in a ball. It was so pathetic of her to cry like this—she didn't want Spencer to see her as this weak little thing. But at this point it didn't matter anymore.

The door immediately opened at the sound of her, and Spencer stood from the other side of the shower curtain, frozen and heart aching at the sound of her crying. Seeing her like this was the hardest for him—Ivory was such a happy, bubbly person that when she cried, it really felt like the world was ending for him.

"Ivy..." He said softly, yanking the curtain away as the wall between the two individuals disappeared. Spencer reached down, turning off the water and grabbing one of her robes before stepping inside the bathtub, draping it over the trembling woman. Ivory avoided his tender gaze as he kneeled before her, immediately brushing her wet hair away from her face.

Spencer peered at her face, his heart tearing into pieces at the tears streaming down her rosy cheeks, her mouth curled up and emitting choked out sobs. Her face said everything—she didn't want to talk about it.

He wrapped an around around her shoulder, sitting next to the woman as Ivory melted into his body, her face burying deep inside his chest, muffing her loud cries. Spencer let his hand brush through her hair, resting his chin on top of her head. He wanted to cry seeing her like this. He couldn't tell if he was more upset or angry. He wanted to fall apart, watching her do so. But he knew he couldn't because he had to put her back together. He needed to help her. He needed to make whoever caused her this much pain...to die.

And that wasn't an exaggeration. Hatred ran through his veins at the thought of someone hurting Ivory Arden. Because...she was precious to him—she was so special that all he ever wanted to do was just shelter her from everything possible.

"I'm right here." He murmured softly to the woman. Spencer truly didn't know what to say. He was being crushed by too many emotions at once; he couldn't figure out the best tactical way to help the woman in his arms. All he could do was let her know that he was with her, forever.

"It's okay to cry, love. Please cry." Spencer murmured softly, suddenly thinking of statistics because he knew those amused her. "Did you know, it's scientifically proven that crying really does make you feel better? Scientists did this experiment where they made people watch sad things for 60 minutes, and the ones who cried report feeling significantly better than before they watched it." He whispered.